Neil Cicierega/FAQ
The following is an FAQ from the now defunct WikiLemon. FAQ Answers in quotes are directly from Neil (or Alora, the band's bassist, if noted). Other answers are not direct quotes, either because they are asked and answered so much, or because the answer is fairly obvious. It does not make the answers any less accurate. Concerning Neil Q: How do you pronounce your last name? ' ' A: “‘Sis-ser-ee-ga’” (IPA transcription: sɪs·sə·ɻi’gə *) Q: Do you know what college you'll be applying to in the near future - er, assuming you're going to go to a college? ' ' A: "I am a fail musician and can't pay for college with shitty music" Q: ' Are you the same Neil Cicierega who made Potter Puppet Pals? ' A: Yes. Q: ' Will you marry me? ' A: Neil tends to answer "No" to fans asking him directly, and "Yes" when this is asked during interviews (which has happened more than once). Q: ' Will you have my children? ' A: "Adoption, foster care, sweat shop, there are options for you. I am simply not ready to be a father." Q: ' What do you do in a typical day? ' A: "Wake up late, possibly eat, spend much time on the computer, possibly go to the mall or for a walk or wherever, possibly eat more, spend more time on the computer, go to sleep late." Q: ' How supportive are your parents of your fame and music? ' A: "They're very very supportive!" Q: ' Hey Neil, I found out what your phone number is! I'm going to call you, okay? ' A: Recently, Emmy made a public announcement on behalf of her family requesting that fans not call Neil, as the majority of such calls are pointless and annoying. Numerous people have emphasized the fact that no one is above this rule, and communication with Neil should be made through email, his LiveJournal. ---- Concerning Neil's Music Q: ' What is Neil's songwriting method? ' A: Usually, he writes the music (including the lead melody), then thinks of a topic and writes the lyrics. There have been some exceptions -- for a notable example, The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, for which the concept came first. Q: ' If you had a career choice other than music, what would it be? ' A: "Filmmaking, actually, is what I'm more interested. If that doesn't work out for me, music is always there. And I probably won't be able to stop anyway. Maybe I'll film musicals." Q: ' Can I sing one of your songs at a talent show/use it in a little project/anything that doesn't involve commercial use? ' A: As long as you're not making money off of it or passing the music off as your own, go ahead. Q: ' Why does everybody like sharps so much? (referring to Neil's songwriting) ' A: "I always use sharps, I'm not sure why. Probably because I have a tendency to misread, for example, Gb as Gm, whereas the # symbol is much more eye-catching. I'm not a guitar player either, I play keyboard. I'm just very chord-minded. I taught myself to play by using a lot of these kinds of chord guides for They Might Be Giants songs." Q: ' Can I make a video out of one of your songs? ' A: "It depends, you'll have to look through the 'Can I make a video for...' thread because some songs are off-limits and you'll have to ask, and other people have staked claims on animating certain songs." Q: ' Did you have any formal training in composition (like, did you have tutoring or something), or did you just teach yourself the mechanics of music composition and then refine your style over time? ' A: "The second one, pretty much. I've taken piano lessons a couple times but not for very long." Q: ' I have a request. Will you write a song for me? A little one? ' A: Neil does not take requests or commissions of any kind. It doesn't matter if you have the music or the lyrics, he won't do it. Q: ' Do you do all the writing and mixing for the songs yourself? Do you use any instruments or just a computer program? ' A: Yes, he does all the writing, recording, and mixing by himself. And he uses various instruments as well as some hardware and software synthesis. Q: ' What instruments and programs do you use? ' A: In the past, most of the music production was done in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. Now, Neil uses Sonar 5 Professional, though as of October 2006, only a few songs (The Too Much Song, The Oldest Man on MySpace, and Marketland) made in it have been released. He also has a condenser microphone, an acoustic guitar with an output through a Digitech RP200 effects pad, and a Roland JV-80 keyboard. Various synths come from Native Instruments' FM7, and he's also got an out of tune Baldwin piano, a medium/small 25 key accordion (brand unspecified) named Cap'n Crunch, a Yamaha SHS10 keytar named Keytarquinius (Formerly named Kiki), an old, old Yamaha CS15 analogue synthesizer, several kazoos, a jew harp, and various toys, tambourines, shakers, etc. Q: ' How do you decide what songs to put on albums, and which to put in the bonus tracks or leave unreleased? Do you see each of your albums as having an underlying theme, into which album tracks should fit? ' A: "Gut feeling. I don't put a ton of thought into it, I just go with what I think oughta and oughta not." Q: ' On certain songs, I am sure that I can hear a female vocal track. Who is this? ' A: "It's me in falsetto, probably. So far none of my songs have female vocals, (other than 'Insult to Aaron')" Q: ' When you record your songs, do you have to record several takes, before you get one you like enough? ' A: "Yeah, almost always. In fact, I very rarely sing the whole song all the way through, usually I record it line-by-line." Q: ' According to the Lemon Demon website, Trapezoid was posthumously renamed "Deporitaz" for "legal reasons". What were these legal reasons? ' A: "Someone from the band emailed me asking to change the name, and since I was done with it anyway, I complied. Legalities weren't really brought into it." Q: ' What does "Deporitaz" mean? ' A: "It's a meaningless anagram of 'Trapezoid.'" Q: ' What artist do you think you are influenced by the most? ' A: "TMBG, John Linnell in particular, are the biggest melodic and general influence." Q: ' For Hyakugojyuuichi 2003, did you write all of the parts? Or did each singer write their own parts? ' A: "The singers wrote their own parts (except for Zander, whose rhymes were crafted by me and Alora.)" ---- Concerning Neil's Filmmaking Q: ' What programs do you use to make your movies? ' A: "Adobe Premiere for all of your video editing and random crashing needs." ---- Concerning Neil's Flash Movies and Animutation Q: ' Do you think you can ever make DVDs that have the music videos for The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, Geeks in love, et cetera? ' A: "Kepple and Altf4 both seem okay with the the idea of a Lemon Demon music video DVD, but I'm gonna wait until there's more material before I think about it." Q: ' I was just wondering, do you make any more animutations? Just reading around, it almost sounds like you retired. ' A: "I'm not officially retired from Animutating, but it seems like my focus is too elsewherish these days. I do have work in progress or two."